Ikatlong mundo

Kapag tinatawag ang Pinas na third world, deep inside nagre-react na agad ako. I easily get defensive dahil the definition of the term "third world" had been redefined into what it is now - degrading.

Parating iniisip kong hindi kami third world no! Paanong magiging third world yun kung maraming mayayaman?


Nung isang gabi habang nag-iinternet ako, nakarinig ako ng iyak ng bata. Baby pa sya at di pa naglalakad, at ang tingin ko wala pang 1 taon yun. What bothered me was that it was past midnight na!

Nakatira kasi ang mga parents ko sa isang area na malapit sa ghetto. Yung mga tao ron gusto nila dumaan sa lugar namin dahil maluwag at malapit sa public transportation tulad ng jeep at buses.

Lumabas ako sa balkonahe at inobserbahan ko ang mangyayaring kasunod. Yung babaeng nagbubuhat sa bata ay di pala nanay nung bata. Narinig ko syang pinapagalitan yung bata at sinabing darating na raw ang nanay nya. Hindi ko alam bakit sila nakatayo sa kinatatayuan nila pero ang hula ko ay inaabangan nya ang nanay nung bata. Nakita ko pang hinampas nya yung hita nung bata, eh di lalong ngumawa yung bata! Ang engot.

May sumitang tao sa babae para patahanin ang bata at iuwi. Bumuwelta ba naman ng wala kang pakialam ha!


Ano ba?!?!?!

Masama bang mapagsabihan nun? Di naman para sa kanya yun kundi sa bata.

Eventually umalis din sya at yung bata tumahan din pero ang tagal nyang umiyak. Naaawa talaga ako sa bata at napasigaw pa ako ng konti para nga patahanin yung bata. Nakita ko ring binigyan nila ng pagkain yung bata, siguro biskwit, at tumahan naman at pagkatapos nga noon ay tumayo na yung babae at umalis. Yung iyak ng bata, kung ako iiyak ng ganun, ay masakit sa ngala-ngala. Frustrated na, galit na, pagod na, gutom pa ang bata.

Nabalisa ako sa nasaksihan ko. Ganun na ba talaga ang mga mahihirap sa atin? Bakit sila nag-aanak tapos di rin pala nila mabigyan man lang ng environment na mararamdaman ng bata na mahal sya at inaalagaan? Dito ko naisip na kaya siguro third world tayo in its most undignified meaning. Sa mga low income people natin makikita ang progress ng society natin.

Kung pumunta tayo sa first world countries, may makikita ba tayong babaeng may dala-dalang infant na umiiyak at nagmamakaawa sa labas ng kalsada at past midnight? Siguro kailangan ko ring maranasan ang tumulong talaga sa kapus-palad in person, hindi lang puro charity at donations para talagang maramdaman kong mayaman na ako based on the level of comfort that I enjoy on a day-to-day basis.

Nakakalungkot talaga. Maraming dumaan na tao sa harap ng babae at ng bata pero dumaan lang at di man lang tumingin. Walang pakialam. Pero ano bang ipinagkaiba ko sa kanila? Ni hindi nga ako bumaba agad. Nung nag-desisyon na ako eh patapos na yung iyak at paalis na sila. Nalulungkot din ako para sa sarili ko.

Ano ba yan?!

Image via Wikipedia

Nagpagupit ako today sa Bench Fix at pinakita ko pa yung gusto kong style na nakita ko sa internet. Ilang buwan ko ring sinave yung link para pagdating ng oras na gusto ko nang magpakulay ng dark brown at mag-change into a dramatic look, meron akong reference.

Sabi nung stylist kelangan ko raw i-blow dry yung buhok ko everyday para ma-achieve ko yung look na gusto ko. Ayokong mag-blow dry talaga kasi sa tingin ko nakakasira ng hibla ng buhok yun. Eh di kulay muna ang naganap. Maganda naman ang kinalabasan pero in the end gusto ko rin pala ng lighter brown. Ano ba yan?!

Nag-usap pa ulit kami ng stylist kung anong gupit talaga ang gusto ko. Sabi ko na lang sya na ang bahala. After nyang matapos, na-realize ko na same hair style rin ang nakuha ko nung nagpagupit ako sa ibang Bench Fix branch. Ano ba yan?! Bakit ganun? Ako ba ang problem or sila? Bakit pareho sila ng hairstyle na pinili para sakin? Yun ba talaga ang bagay sakin?

Sabi ng asawa ko safe style lang daw ang kinalabasan at nag-agree ako sa kanya. Wala lang, parang gupit lang talaga. Wala man lang wow effect. Disappointed ako, hindi sa kanila kundi sa sarili ko. Dapat kasi nakinig na lang ako sa gut instinct ko na subukan yung hairstyle na nakita ko a few months ago. Sayang din yung binayad ko no. P2,100 for color at P350 for the cut. Tip pa of P500 - hati na yung 2 stylists na nag-asikaso sakin.

Sa susunod talaga kelangan dramatic look na!

Want a free download of MyWorth?

Okay, I have 2 iTunes codes to give away for a FREE download of MyWorth on iTunes US App Store! The code is only valid for MyWorth.

The catch is that you have to blog a review about MyWorth. Because this effort is basically giving you a free iPhone app, we have no control over the review you would make (or not make). So, I hope that we could trust you to give a blog post review of MyWorth.

You need to be:

1. An active blogger
2. Must have an iPhone
3. Must have an iTunes account registered in the United States, ie. with a US billing address

Before I give away the code, I will need evidence of your blog and its activity. It would be preferable that you have a personal finance-related blog.

If you're interested, leave a comment with an email address and the URL to your blog. I look forward to hearing from you!

MyWorth - the coolest net worth iPhone app!

Finally! A net worth iPhone app that has everything I need to track my net worth!

MyWorth offers a more detailed approach to tracking my assets and liabilities. It also offers a fancy graph for visual motivation. It's really nice and I love it! :) The graph appears when I change the orientation to horizontal and disappears when I reverse. How cool is that?

The app offers more categories and the flexibility to add more for my own customization.

This is one of the features that I love - the ability to add an asset that is also a liability! The feature is offered for home/mortgage and car/loan. This means not having to do double-entry.

I searched iTunes for similar apps but got disappointed for a variety of reasons. One was too simple and sidetracked into tracking expenses, one had confusing user interface design, and one that just didn't quite offer what I want.  

Social Networking
If I were brave enough to share my net worth, I could with MyWorth's interface with Twitter and Facebook. Not to confuse you, the app doesn't share your net worth automatically. You have full control over what you share.

Only in the USA
MyWorth is only set up (eg. demographics) for American consumers, but it shouldn't stop you from using it. It doesn't offer currency conversion...yet. I believe that this app will grow into a wider coverage soon.

But, oh boy, MyWorth is AWESOME!!! At $2.99, I have bought myself a cheap app that will serve me for a very long time. Well done MyWorth creators!

Here's the link to MyWorth on iTunes: http://goo.gl/cnev

Enjoy!!!

100 Thing Challenge

I've been meaning to share 100 Thing Challenge to you. I find it fascinating because I am a minimalist. I don't like consuming things that cause clutter to my home.

This might come odd to you but I like an almost empty fridge.

My husband and I share this odd "like". To me it means that we consume what we buy. The fridge is filled with food after a big supermarket visit and it clears out as days go by. I love it!

The only challenge I'm still tackling is getting rid of a lot of clothes. I'm not sure if I already mentioned it in previous posts but I'd like to live on clothes that fit my closet that's a size of a wardrobe. I have too much.

I already gave away extra pots and pans. Our dehumidifier is saved for a coworker's relative. Our rice dispenser is awaiting collection from a friend.

Anyway, I might want to try the challenge when we move overseas. We're going to start over and not ship any of our stuff here. I'm excited to do it! We talked about getting a sofa-bed and a coffee table. It's going to be a change of lifestyle, but that's the point.

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• The Path to Happiness is Minimalist? (beliefnet.com)

Salary increase at 3%

I am not happy about it but I am thankful. We may be having hard times right now and the best attitude towards it is to be grateful, pero hindi ko talaga sya maramdaman. Disappointed ako dahil 3% lang.

My last year's pay increase was 5%.

It doesn't mean that I did not deliver or perform. I can honestly say that I did well for the past year and if you could read my performance review you would think that I'd be getting more than 5%.

The increase is to take effect next week backdated for 2 months. It took the higher leadership a long time to finalize increases for many people, including me, and I get a feeling because our managers had to fight for them. I'm lucky that my manager is fair.

A friend of mine in Payroll told me that others didn't have any increase because they didn't deliver or improve their performance. Wow. Here I am still thinking that a yearly raise is a right and not a privilege.

My head is stuck on inflation at minimum of 4% anywhere in the world (but I'm sure I'm wrong about that), and so to earn less than that puts the person who doesn't get any increase (or does but below inflation rate) in a worse position even in the assumption that their consumption practice stays the same.

So yes, I am not happy about my salary increase but I'm thankful that I have a job.

Rich in the Philippines

I read this blog post and I was blown away! I can't believe that my family in the Philippines belongs in the upper middle class in terms of income. All this time kasi akala ko middle class lang kami. I mean, compared sa mga kakilala ko nung college na "rich", malayo naman kami ron. Wala naman kaming BMW or Mercedes Benz or wala naman kaming mall na nakapangalan sa amin. Yes, I knew people in college who owned gas station franchises, owned flashy cars, owned farms, malls, and other forms of wealth.

As I kept reading the post, what really blew me away was the 3 Predictors of Wealth. My family meets all 3 predictors. Really, owning 3 air conditioning units is a predictor??? 3 cars maybe, but a/c units? Owning doesn't necessarily mean using them regularly, no?

What bugs me is that the predictors don't take into account savings or investments at all. It was all about consumption, except for the 1st predictor. Owning (or consuming) something, to me, is not an indicator of wealth. I've met a few people who prefer to own less and yet have a massive bank account.

There's a need to shift our paradigm in the Philippines. The idea of wealth being tied to an object is perhaps the reason why we change cellphone models as though it were a necessity. It's obvious that if you have a lot of money, it means you can afford to buy things. That's what I think is one of the reasons why people consume -- because it gets the message, that they can afford to buy, across.

What do you think?